Fruit-gatherer.



No. 773,391. PATENTED OCT. 25, 1904. I. D. HENRIGKSON. FRUIT GATHERBR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 13, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

77C 71660 6: I n jzvenior:

Patented October 25, 1904.

FFlQE.

FRED D. HENRICKSON, OF AMBOY, WASHINGTON.

FRUlT-GATHERER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 773,391, dated. October 25, 1904.

Application filed July 13, 1903. Serial No. 165,400. (No model.)

To (all 2071,0111, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED DJHENRICKSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Amboy, in the county of Clarke and State of \Vashington, have made certain new and useful lniprovements'in Fruit-Gatherers, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention is an improvement in that class of hand fruit gatherers or pickers which consists of a receiver or skeleton basket suspended and adapted to oscillate in the forks of an extended handle.

The improvement is embodied in the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the basering of the basket or fruit-receiver. Fig. 3 is a side view of the different forms of pins forming the sides of the basket or receiver. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the handle-fork. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the basket or receiver proper.

The handle A of my improved fruit-gatherer comprises a wooden portion of due length and two metal forks a, having eyes at their outer ends. The basket or skeleton receiver consists of a base-ring 0, having a flexible bottom it and sides formed of a series of pins 1) and two opposite pins E, the latter having theirouter ends bent laterally, as shown at 9, Figs. 1, 3, and 5, whereby they are adapted to serve as trunnions for attaching the basket or receiver to the forks of the handle. Thus the basket or receiver is suspended from the forks 'in'such manner that it is movable on the pins E. All the pins are screw-threadside to side, so. that the several strands cross each other at the center of the space inclosed by the ring. It will be noticed that one strand is arranged between each two of the pins set in the ring, so that the strands are prevented from sliding around the ring or becoming displaced in such manner as to impair their efliciency. Arope F (see Fig. l) is attached to the center of the flexible bottom it and serves to steady the basket or receiver when in use, as well as aid in adjusting the latter so as to receive and detach fruit more conveniently.-

In use the basket or receiver is elevated by means of the handle A until the stem supporting a selected fruit passes between two of the pins, when a lateral pull or leverage on the basket serves to detach the fruit, whereupon the basket is lowered and the fruit removed. The elastic strips h form a soft and yielding bottom for the basket, which prevents injury to the fruit by more or less forcible impact, and it is obvious, owing to the approximately spherical form of the fruit, it is prevented from contact with the inner edge of the ring 0, so that the injury in that manner is impossible.

What I claim is- 1. A hand fruit-gatherer, comprising a basket or receiver proper formed of a base-ring having a series of pins therein, and a bottom composed of soft material, and a handle which is pivotally connected with the outer ends of two of said pins, substantially as. described.

2. Theimproved fruit-gatherer,comprising a basket formed of a base-ring having vertical pins, two of which are bent laterally at their outer ends forming pivots and arranged di rectly opposite, a soft flexible bottom, and a handle having a fork whose ends are provided with eyes to receive the pivots of the basket, substantially as described.

3. In a fruit-gatherer of the class specified, the improved skeleton basket or receiver consisting of a base-ring having'a series of pins attached thereto, and a bottom formed of a flexible strip which is applied to the ring and extends from side to side thereof between the several pins in the manner described.

i. In a fruit-gatherer of the class described,

theimprovcd basket or skeleton receiver coml pivotally connected with the upper ends of prising a base-ring having a series of vertical pins set therein and a bottom formed of leather strips which are Wound around the ring, and pass from side to side, the several strands crossing each other at the center.

5. The improved fruit-gatherer, comprising a skeleton receiver formed of a base-ring having vertical pins and. a flexible bottom composed of intersecting flexible strands extending across the ring diametrically, a handle tWo of said pins, and a stead y-rope attached to the center of said flexible bottom, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof]. have signed my name to this specification in the presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses.

F. D. HENRICKSON.

Witnesses:

S. S. CAMPBELL, WILLIAM A. REID. 

